Kota Ibushi’s nightmare recovery from a broken femur just took another brutal turn. The AEW star says he’s being hospitalized again and will undergo a second surgery on September 17 after doctors determined the plates already inside his leg simply weren’t strong enough for his body.
Ibushi announced the latest setback on Instagram on September 16, confirming doctors plan to remove all of the current hardware from his femur and replace it with the strongest option available. The news comes nearly a year after Ibushi fractured his femur during his match against Josh Alexander at an AEW Collision taping in Jacksonville and had to be stretchered out before being rushed for medical treatment.
Ibushi sounded completely drained by the idea of going under the knife again, especially after everything he has already put his body through. He said the timing makes no sense to him, but he’s refusing to let another surgery be the thing that ends his wrestling career.
“I am being hospitalized starting today. Tomorrow, I will undergo a second surgery on my femur. They will remove all the current plates and replace them with the strongest available option, as the doctors said my current ones were simply too weak for my body and leg.”
This isn’t a surprise surgery either, but it still clearly sucks for Ibushi. Ringside News previously covered how Ibushi learned he would need another operation because the plate in his leg wasn’t strong enough, with the September 17 date eventually locked in. Ibushi didn’t hide how sick he is of spending his life bouncing between operating rooms and rehab. After one major surgery already, months of recovery and another operation now staring him in the face, he admitted the entire situation has left him exhausted.
“Why now? It makes absolutely no sense to me. I am so exhausted from having to go through surgery after surgery.”
That frustration still isn’t enough to make Ibushi walk away from wrestling. Despite doctors having to rip out the existing plates and essentially start over with stronger hardware, he says his goal hasn’t changed one bit.
“But I am not giving up. I refuse to let something like this end my professional wrestling career. I will make sure this surgery is a success and absolutely return to AEW‼️”
Ibushi’s first surgery came after the October 2025 injury, when the broken femur was serious enough that he said the bone was close to piercing through his skin. He later confirmed that operation was successful, and by the end of that month he was already having dozens of surgical staples removed as the long recovery began.
There were even signs things were moving in the right direction. Ibushi eventually said his recovery was progressing faster than doctors initially expected, but the hardware problem has now thrown another giant roadblock into that comeback.
Ibushi has been through enough with this leg to make anybody question whether another comeback is worth it, but he clearly isn’t there yet. Doctors are about to tear out the plates they already put in his femur, replace them with something stronger and send him right back into recovery — and Ibushi is already talking about walking through the AEW curtain again.
Do you think Kota Ibushi will be able to make it back to AEW after another major femur surgery, and would you want to see him wrestle again once he’s finally cleared? Let us know your thoughts and feedback in the comments.
